The problem with Hollywood movies, I'm guessing you believe, is that they are all based on comic books, they're aimed at idiots and are all too long. You may feel that the blockbusters Hollywood types make money on hold you in contempt. But those aren't the films that show the contempt Hollywood holds you in: it's the other films, the proper films, the grown up films, the films that have one eye on the award season, those are the films that show you how little regard Hollywood has for you. The Judge is a protracted monstrosity of overindulgence, Transformers: Age of Extinction in human form.

It is a Hollywood custom for those who have got rich off of blockbuster franchise to give a little back with a smaller, classy dramas. Playing Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr has probably made more money than any human being who hasn't struck oil or dabbled in silicon. The Judge is his act of atonement. He's playing an evil big city defence lawyer, the kind of evil lawyer who when challenged about how he feels about always defending guilty people says, “Innocent people couldn't afford me.” But his slick little life is about to be put on hold when his father (Duvall), that he can't stand, an upstanding forthright judge in a small town, is charged with murder.

The point of such films is presumably to give the star a chance to stretch their talent but Downey plays him as Tony Stark without the Iron Man suit. It's a star turn and, of course, once he starts they are all at it. Just watch the big deal D'Onofrio, playing Downey's older brother, makes of explaining where he parked in his opening scene. This is not human drama, this is a variety show.

Of course you can't lose with a courtroom drama, but the case gets largely mislaid or overlooked in the family drama, shouting matches and Downey looking up old girlfriends.